Thursday, August 23, 2012

Mensahi Ginnen I Gehilo' #5: Not Just for Protestors

Mensahi Ginnen I Gehilo’ #5

"Not Just for Protestors"

The Independence Task Force for Guam has been meeting for
several months now and we finally held our first event in July. Days after
Liberation Day supporters for Independence as Guam’s next political status
gathered early in the morning to pick up trash along the beach and road in
Hagatna. Twenty-two volunteers showed up to collect beer cans, cigarette butts,
tires, newspaper and all other types of trash. All in all more than a dozen bags
were collected. The Mayor’s Office of Hagatna was generous enough to dispose of
the trash once the cleanup was over. Jon Guerrero, a recent graduate of the
Masters in Clinical Psychology program at the University of Guam was the lead
organizer for the event. Guerrero felt it was important to take on an activity
like this because people think of Independence as being very abstract, but in
truth its really about feeling like you can take care of yourself.

This is the approach to promoting Independence that the Task
Force will be utilizing. Due to misconceptions about what Independence would
mean for Guam and the fear that people have of appearing to be unpatriotic or
anti-American by discussing it, the idea of Guam becoming Independent is much
maligned and in many ways feared. Independence has gained much passionate
strength from advocates who insist on righting the wrongs of the past and
reminding people of the sins of Guam’s colonizers. As a result people have come
to associate Independence with protesting and angry rhetoric, rather than
something which holds a great deal of opportunities for Guam to grow and
evolve. Seeking Independence for Guam is a sort of protest, it is a protest
against the way the US has treated Guam since 1898. But it is also a new
beginning for the island. It is something to build upon. As such we cannot be
seen as a status for the protestors, but a status that anyone can support.

The approach we are seeking to take now would naturalize and
normalize the idea of Independence for Guam. The beach cleanup was our first
attempt to move Independence out of context as being something only an
outspoken activist would care about and put it in another context, one where
people can more freely consider it or think about it. We pay tribute and honor
the generations of activists who endured the criticism and scorn of others in
order to bring us to this point where we can discuss more easily ideas such as
decolonization and independence. We must build upon that and make these ideas
others can take part in.

Over the next few months we will have more activities,
several of which will focus on the village of Umatac, to build upon this
strategy. Stay tuned for more details.

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Put Guahu / About Me

This blog is dedicated to Chamorro issues, the use and revitalization of the Chamoru language and the decolonization of Guam. This blog also aims to inform people around the world about the history, culture and language and struggles of the Chamorro people, who are the indigenous islanders of Guam, Saipan, Tinian, Luta and Pagan in the Mariana Islands. Pues Haggannaihon ha', ya taitai na'ya, ya Si Yu'us Ma'ase para i finatto-mu.

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The Revolution Will Not Be Haolified

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE HAOLIFIEDTinige’ as Guahu - 2003 (updated 2008)

You will not be able to ignore it che’lu * This time you will not be able to blame it all on Anghet * You will not be able to change channels * And watch Fear Factor, Rev TV of Salamat Po Guam because * The Revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be televised, nor will it be advertised * It will not be sponsored by the Good Guys at Moylan’s or the better guys at AK. * It will not be something easily explained by radio callers * Whether they be Positively Local, Definitively Settler, or Surprisingly Coconut * It will not be cornered by the Calvos and explained by Sabrina Salas * Matanane * After the story about the incoming B-52’s or 1000’s of Marines careening towards to Guam, and how we * should be economically energized and not terrorized. * Jon Anderson will have no TT anecdotes about it * and Chris Barnett won’t malafunkshun it because the revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be televised or editorialized * It will not be something canabilized with two inches here two inches there * Dubious headlines everywhere * Lee Weber will not edit it * Joe Murphy will not put it in his pipe and smoke it * Nor dream about it, or tell others the wonders and blunders of it. * There will be no letters to the editor quoting scriptures or denying its constitutionality * And there will be no American flag inserts saying these three colors just don’t run * As the revolution will not be editorialized

The revolution will not be televised or politicized * It will not play the same old gayu games * And promise you that same old talonan things. * The revolution will not wave at you as you drive by on Marine Drive * And seduce you with its hardworking eyes. * It will not be territorial or popular, and not encourage you with maolek blue. * The revolution will not put marang salaman po after its speeches to get more Filipino votes in the next election because the revolution will not be politicized

The revolution will not be televised, not be theorized * It will not be something GCC or UOG friendly. * There will be no books at Bestseller offering to help you lose something in 90 days * Or Rachel Ray helping you cook the revolution of your way. * Ron McNinch will not survey it * and will not poll people about their revolution of choice. * There will be no WASC review report demanding accountability demanding autonomy * And no beachcombing carpetbaggers will proclaim their own terminal authority * Over the histories, the laws, the thinking of those for whom they see nothing but corrupt and corrupting inferiority * The revolution will not be colonized

The revolution will not be televised, not be supersized. * The revolution will not be something you can buy at Ross, or get at blue light cost * It is not just red rice, kelaguan uhang, or popcorn with Tobacco sauce. * It doesn’t come with Coke and it doesn’t fit on a fiesta plate. * The revolution will not make you gof sinexy, cure your jafjaf, or make fragrant your fa’fa’ * The revolution will not force you to be where America’s empire begins * Or where Japan’s golf courses and Gerry Yingling’s credit card debt ends. * You won’t need a credit card, or be charged for the tin foil to cover your balutan * As the revolution will not be economized

The revolution will not be televised, blownback or militarized * There will be no more physical ordnance buried in people’s lands * And no more patrionizing propaganda buried in people’s minds * The revolution will not get you cheaper cases of chicken or increased commissary privileges. * It will not make freedomless flags feel more comfortable in your hands * Or make uniforms fit more snugly around your mind. * The revolution will not deny racism or exploitation * And not create histories about landfalls of destiny * But instead publicize the racism and evils of American hegemony. * The revolution will not be subsidized by construction contracts or the race of Senator Inouye or Congressman Burton * It will not be laid waste to by daisy cut budgets or Medicare spending limits * Instead it will be sustained by deep memories that refuse to die * The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be televised and will not polarize based on blood or color * It will not make your skin lighter * It will not make your skin darker * It will not test your blood the way Hitler or Uncle Sam would of done * It will not hate some and love others based on their time of naturalization * Or incept date of their compacts of free association. * But the revolution will help some find comfort, find strength, find power * In their connections to the land and to each other * Allow some to discover the sovereignty that can be found in solidarity * The revolution will take and remake this consciousness that doesn’t need to be televised * But does need to be revolutionized * The revolution will not be haolified * The revolution will not be haolified